Wheel toy

ABSTRACT

A toy whirling wheel having a shell-like configuration generally in the shape of a frusto-conical section with the diameter at the base of the wheel greater than the diameter at the top of the wheel. The top surface of the wheel has its central portion recessed downwardly with a bore therethrough located on the axis of the wheel. A rope passing through the bore acts as an axle about which the wheel turns and stops on the rope limit the axial movement of the rope back and forth through the bore. A bag in which weights may be placed is attached to the end of the rope inside the shell of the wheel. Attached to the underside of the top surface are a plurality of rotatable discs each having a chord portion extending outwardly through slots in the side annular wall of the wheel. The discs each have an identical set of symbols on their top face with the symbols being selectively viewable through windows in the top surface of the wheel.

llited States Patent 1 Kelly WHEEL TOY [76] Inventor: I Gerald C. Kelly, 16 Dunmore Road,

Warwick, R.I. 02886 22 Filed: Feb. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 112,982

[52] U.S. Cl. 46/51, 46/210, 46/202,

' 273/142 R [51] Int. Cl A63h 33/00 [58] Field of Search 273/142 R, 143 A; 46/51, 52, 21 D, 201

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,563,249 11/1925 Candido 46/52 X 2,614,843 10/1952 Wee 46/52 X 771,705 10/1904 Bristow 46/51 2,282,076 5/1942 Moddes et al. 46/52 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 178,268 7/1935 Switzerland... 46/51 2,448 7/1890 Switzerland 46/51 11 3,738,052 45 June 12, 1 3

- Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Paul E. Shapiro Attorney-Barlow & Barlow [57] ABSTRACT A toy whirling wheel having a shell-like configuration generally in the shape of a frusto-conical section with the diameter at the base of the wheel greater than the diameter at the top of the wheel. The top surface of the wheel has its central portion recessed downwardly with a bore therethrough located on the axis of the wheel.

A rope passing through the bore acts as an axle about which the wheel turns and stops on the rope limit the axial movement of the tope back and forth through the bore. A bag in which weights may be placed is attached to the end of the rope inside the shell of the wheel. Attached to the underside of the top surface are a plurality of rotatable discs each having a chord portion extending outwardly through slots in the side annular wall -of the wheel. The discs each have an identical set of' symbols on their top face with the symbols being selectively viewable through windows in the top surface of the wheel.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAH'INIED $738,052

INVENTOR GERALD C. KELLY ATTORNEYS WHEEL TOY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a toy in the general configuration of a wheel with a rope attached through its center for rotating the wheel about the holder of the rope. In the past a large number of toys have been known making use of an object attached to a length of cord which is twirled around by the holder of the cord. Some of these took the form of tassel twirling devices, others the form of noise making devices, a few were teaching devices and some were merely for amusement. All of them had one thing in common though and that was that they were to be operated by swinging them through the air. None of them functioned by rolling along the ground. Nor did any of them include rotating discs with symbols on them so that a game could be played attempting to stop rotation of the different symbols in the windows of the rotating wheel with differing point values given for different groupings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The whirling wheel is basically in the form of a shell having a generally frusto-conical configuration although the wheel could also be made without an underside cavity byforming that area of solid material. At least a portion of the outwardly sloping outer wall of the wheel tends to make the wheel revolve in a circular path around the operator of the toy when the cord attached thereto is pulled with a turning motion. The weight of the wheel itself and the additional weight of the bag attached to the end of the cord within the bottom of the shell add stability to the wheel while in its stationary position and during the initial rolling motion of the wheel before the centrifugal forces of the revolving wheel take over.

The desired size of the wheel would normally be approximately 2 feet in diameter although both larger and smaller size wheels could be made with the same general configuration. A single operator can revolve the whirling wheel around himself in a circle by turning through a 360 arc or by passing the cord from hand to hand around his body as the wheel revolves about him. Variations of play may be had by two operators standing back to back and revolving either one or two whirling wheels around themselves. Also the discs whose edges extend out through slots in the peripheral side walls of the wheel have symbols pictured on them and as the wheel is rotated the discs are caused to rotate with the different symbols being sequentially viewable through windows in the face of the wheel. When the wheel comes to a stop, a symbol is viewable in each of the windows. Points can be awarded upon the basis of the different groupings obtained much in the same manner as a slot machine with its rotating discs. An-

' other game possible with the wheel is to section off the DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rotatable wheel;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of one of the discs mounted beneath the top surface of the wheel;

FIG. 4 is a partial view illustrating in cross section an alternative annular wall configuration; and

FIG. 5 is a partial view of a further alternate embodiment shown on a reduced scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The operation of the whirling wheel, generally designated numeral 10, is best understood by referring to FIG. l which is a perspective view of the wheel as it rotates. FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 and it illustrates the frusto-conical shape of the wheel. The particular embodiment illustrated shows a shell-like housing although the wheel could be made with the underside cavity filled. Also the frustconical outer configuration of the wheel would include embodiments as shown in FIG. 5 essentially shaped like a spool or reel having different diameter heads on the opposite ends of its barrel. The lack of a solid or grid type wall surface between the outer peripheral edges of the heads would not prevent the wheel from functioning properly since in the rolling surface of these embodiments would be the outer peripheral edges of the reel heads.

The basic rolling surface of wheel l0 illustrated in FIG. 2 is annular wall member 12. A rim 13 adds strength to the wall member at its bottom and also provides an additional running surface on which the wheel sometimes rotates. The top surface of the wheel is in the form of an annular disc 14 having its inner edge connected to concave recess wall 16. Central surface 18 at the bottom of the recess wall is in the form of a circular disc and has an aperture 20 at its center. A cord or rope 22 passes through the aperture to form axle or tethering means and has washers 24 and 25 on opposite sides of the central surface disc to reduce friction between the bore and the stops or limiting beads 26 and 27 on the cord. The beads prevent the cord from being completely pulled through the bore in either direction. A bag 30 is attached to the end of the cord extending into the bottom of the wheel. The bag as illustrated has a zipper on it and can be filled with any material such as sand, pebbles, weights, etc., to give additional mass to stabilize the wheel as it starts to roll and stops its rolling operation. The bag could also be designed to hold water or numerous other materials in order to add mass to the bag.

From a dead stop the wheel can be put into motion by the operator extending the cord from the wheel until taut and then by giving a slight pull to either the left or right depending upon which direction rotation is to take place. As this is taking place, the cord comes into contact with ridge 15 formed where the top surface annular disc member 14 is connected to concave recess wall 16. Further motion of the cord in the direction in which it comes into contact with the ridge causes the cord to exert pressure on the inner side of the ridge and to start the wheel rolling. As the wheel gains momenturn, it can be made to revolve in a larger circle if the cord has been initially held in a shortened grip by slowly letting the cord out and letting the centrifugal force of the wheelpull it radially outwardly. The wheel may be stopped by letting it exhaust its momentum or by pulling the control cord in the opposite direction of the cylinders motion. If the latter method is used, the cord then applies reverse tension causing friction on the inner side of the ridge and acts as a brake. In this manner the wheel can be stopped with some degree of accuracy which can be important depending upon which of the games previously described in the summary is being played.

Also as seen in the drawings, the wheel may have a plurality of rotatable discs 32 mounted on pins 33 protruding downwardly from the underside of top surface member 14. These discs as best seen in FIG. 3 have different symbols marked on their faces. As the wheel is rotating chord sections of the discs that extend through slots 34 in the annular wall have their serrated edges brought into contact with the ground causing the discs to rotate. Due to looseness in tolerances between the diameter of the neck of pin 33 and the diameter of the bore in disc 32, the disc will rotate with a minimum of force on its serrated edges and will actually partially withdraw into slot 34 when that portion of rolling surface 12 adjacent the disc is resting upon a running surface. When the motion of the wheel is brought to a halt, a symbol on each of the discs 32 will be viewable through the different windows on the face of top surface member 14. Various point values can be given for different combinations of symbols, for example, three oranges might be given fifteen points. In this manner a game can be played by several players attempting to score a set number of points.

In FIG. 4 is seen a partial view of an alternative embodiment showing a wheel 38 having a shell configuration whose annular wall member is comprised of two annular sections 40 and 41. They, in effect, form one frusto-conical section on top of another.

An additional alternative embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 5 showing a partial view of wheel 50. The wheel itself is shown drawn on a reduced scale and essentially has two heads 52 and 54 connected by a barrel core 56. Head 52 has a diameter greater than head 54 so that it functions and performs in the samev manner as the other described whirling wheels.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy for rolling along the ground comprising a. a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel,

b. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface,

c. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface,

d. axle means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said wheel, the axle means comprises a rope passing through a bore in the center of said central surface,

e. bag means attached to the end of said rope extending through the bottom of the wheel, said' bag means having a removable mass therein.

2. A toy for rolling along the ground comprising a. a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel,

. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface,

. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface,

. axle means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said wheel,

. an annular wall member connects the base with the outer edge of the annular disc forming the top surface,

f. at least one disc mounted on pin means extending toward the base from the underside of said annular disc, slot means in the annular wall member through which a chord portion of said disc extends outwardly.

. A toy for rolling along the ground comprising a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part a broad rolling surface of a dimension sufficient to support itself in vertical position with its axis generally horizontal and in the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel,

b. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface,

c. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface a distance between the planes of the base and top surface,

d. elongated tethering means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said .wheel permitting rotation of the wheel with reference to said tethering means and restrain the wheel against the action of centrifugal force as rotation occurs,

e. a substantially frusto-conical wall having a relatively large diameter adjacent said top surface and a relatively small diameter adjacent said central surface, said wall connecting said central surface and top surface and providing means engageable by the tethering means located between the central surface and the top surface to start revolving the wheel.

4. A toy as recited in claim 3 wherein the axle means comprises a rope passing through a bore in the center of said central surface.

5. A toy as recited in claim 4 further comprising limit means on the rope to prevent the rope from being completely pulled through the bore in either direction. 

1. A toy for rolling along the ground comprising a. a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel, b. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface, c. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface, d. axle means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said wheel, the axle means comprises a rope passing through a bore in the center of said central surface, e. bag means attached to the end of said rope extending through the bottom of the wheel, said bag means having a removable mass therein.
 2. A toy for rolling along the ground comprising a. a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel, b. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface, c. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface, d. axle means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said wheel, e. an annular wall member connects the base with the outer edge of the annular disc forming the top surface, f. at least one disc mounted on pin means extending toward the base from the underside of said annular disc, slot means in the annular wall member through which a chord portion of said disc extends outwardly.
 3. A toy for rolling along tHe ground comprising a. a wheel having an outer configuration that defines at least in part a broad rolling surface of a dimension sufficient to support itself in vertical position with its axis generally horizontal and in the shape of a frusto-conical section whereby the wheel at its base has an outer diameter greater than the outer diameter of the top of the wheel, b. the wheel has an annular disc for its top surface, c. the center of the wheel has a central surface recessed toward the base from the annular disc that forms the top surface a distance between the planes of the base and top surface, d. elongated tethering means are connected to the center of said central surface on the axis of said wheel permitting rotation of the wheel with reference to said tethering means and restrain the wheel against the action of centrifugal force as rotation occurs, e. a substantially frusto-conical wall having a relatively large diameter adjacent said top surface and a relatively small diameter adjacent said central surface, said wall connecting said central surface and top surface and providing means engageable by the tethering means located between the central surface and the top surface to start revolving the wheel.
 4. A toy as recited in claim 3 wherein the axle means comprises a rope passing through a bore in the center of said central surface.
 5. A toy as recited in claim 4 further comprising limit means on the rope to prevent the rope from being completely pulled through the bore in either direction. 